3 comments
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A smart molester would try very hard to work in a Chareidi Yeshiva, as it offers him his best chance of never being reported. How can we change that? We want Chareidi Yeshivos to be the last place a molester would ever want to work!

If you have been following the posts - unfortunately there are many schools that do not adequately protect children. Haven't seen any evidence that chareidi yeshiva is least likely to report. I do agree that it should be the last place a molester would ever want to work.

There are several reasons why a molester would be safer in Chareidi Yeshivos.

1) The Chareidi community is less likely to give children sex-education classes, so the children are more likely to not understand what is going on, and how important it is to report it. In some Chasidic communities, even Chassanim are not told certain biologically information until the month of the wedding. 2) Baruch Hashem, the Chareidi community is less to talk about sex, and the children are much less likely to ever talk about sex. In communities where that it is a common topic of discussion, incidents are more likely to be gossiped about and eventually reach the ears of teachers or older siblings. When children know something is not a proper topic of conversation, they are more likely to keep it to themselves.3) The Shidduch system encourages families to hide abuse. There are people who wouldn’t want to marry into a family where one of the children was abused, or even worse, into a family that brought false allegations of abuse. There will always be those who don’t believe the allegations, and family reputation matters much more in the Chareidi community than in other communities where men and women meet directly for dating without first investigating each other’s families.4) In many communities if the parents or school ever heard allegations about abuse, the first phone call would be to the police. Even if they didn’t know if the allegations were true, they would call the police first and work out the rest later. In Chareidi Yeshivos they have rules against Mesirah, and even if a Posek deems the allegations to be credible, it would take time before it is reported, and give the molester time to prepare, perhaps by fleeing town.

I’m sure you know additional reasons as well why all else being equal, a molester would be safer in Chareidi Yeshivos. I can’t think of a single reason why they’d be less safe. Can you? Abuse happens everywhere, but if molesters are smart, they'd be more likely to avoid jail if they stay within the Chareidi community. I find that very upsetting, and I wish I had ideas on how to change that.

August 8, 2017 10:30 pm yeshiva world Since the implementation of the Rav Kav transportation smart card in Israel, the Knesset’s Ombud...

Rav Zev Leff recommends my 3 books on Child & Domestic Abuse

Click on picture to hear excerpt from Jan. 2012 Kav L'Noar conference. "I want to first give hakoras hatov to Dr. Baruch Shulem who provided me with Daniel Eidensohn's books on child abuse and domestic abuse which offered me many many sources and it gave me many many ideas to be able to deal with the subject properly. And I thank them and I recommend those books to everyone who is interested in getting a good foundation what the issues are in this very important topic."